Losing NFL marketing rights after 10 years was supposed to cost MillerCoors, but early this year Coors Light surpassed Budweiser as the No. 2 U.S. beer brand. Now it’s the NHL lockout costing MillerCoors profits in Canada, but England and Long continue to deftly pilot Anheuser-Busch’s biggest domestic rival.

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DeMaurice
Smith

Executive Director

NFL Players Association

CHANGE FROM 2011: -6

More than a year after agreeing to a collective-bargaining agreement that will ensure labor peace for 10 years, Smith continues to fight for player rights on the field in health and safety matters and in court with the union’s collusion case against the NFL. Also, in March, Smith was unanimously re-elected as head of the largest union in sports.

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43

Ed
Snider

Chairman

Comcast-Spectacor

Peter
Luukko

President & COO

Comcast-Spectacor

CHANGE FROM 2011: NEWCOMERS

Snider and Luukko have been tied at the hip for almost 30 years, mostly in Philadelphia where they have developed Comcast-Spectacor into a powerful entity covering facility services for about 100 arenas, stadiums and other venues. Snider is Comcast-Spectacor’s chairman; Luukko, his chief lieutenant, is its president and COO. Over the past year, they also led the successful transformation of the old Spectrum site into Xfinity Live!, a retail and entertainment complex.

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44

Bob
Bowman

President & CEO

MLB Advanced Media

CHANGE FROM 2011: NO CHANGE

It’s almost easy now to take Bowman and MLBAM for granted as each year brings more revenue and innovation. More broadly, though, every one of baseball’s key avenues of growth, including youth and international audiences, emerging content platforms and digital ticketing, fundamentally involves Bowman and his team.

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45

Chris
Tsakalakis

CEO

StubHub

CHANGE FROM 2011: +5

Nothing has changed the ticket-buying world more in the last decade than the emergence of StubHub, under the guidance of Tsakalakis. Love it or loathe it, the line between sale and resale has gone from clear to fuzzy to all but invisible. Whether viewing it as a sales channel, a sponsor, a barometer or a competitor, anyone who sells an event ticket better keep an eye on the Stub.

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46

Bill
Daly

Deputy Commissioner

NHL

Bob
Batterman

Partner

Proskauer

CHANGE FROM 2011: NOT RANKED

Daly is the league’s most consistent communicator with the media and often is its top representative in collective-bargaining negotiations with the NHLPA. Batterman, a partner at Proskauer, is part of the legal firm’s sports law group that works with the NHL, NFL and MLS. Their influence on NHL labor talks and the league’s lockout has been immense.

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Rick
Dudley

President & CEO

Octagon Worldwide

CHANGE FROM 2011: +2

Overseeing an agency of 800-plus employees that quietly has a role in virtually all areas of the sports business, Dudley continues to build upon Octagon’s basic framework by expanding it into new areas — namely Brazil — and by building out areas of business. The agency’s consulting division, Olympic talent business and research group are consistently among the best in class, and Dudley formed a new event group that should provide opportunities for growth in both the events and hospitality space.

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48

John
Mara

Co-Owner, President & CEO

New York Giants

CHANGE FROM 2011: NEWCOMER

It’s not just the two Super Bowl-winning teams in the last five years, or his easy way with the media and fans. Mara has now fully taken over for his late father, Wellington, as a trusted source of advice and counsel in elite NFL circles.

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49

Nathan
Hubbard

CEO

Ticketmaster

CHANGE FROM 2011: NEWCOMER

Long the dominant player in the primary ticketing market, Ticketmaster has expanded its view of the business under Hubbard, chasing the secondary market more aggressively and positioning itself as an e-commerce company that can provide clients with unrivaled data. This year’s deal with the NBA that puts tickets — including resales — from all 30 teams on one Web portal bears watching.

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50

Brad
Drewett

Executive Chairman & President

ATP

CHANGE FROM 2011: NEWCOMER

For years, it was no secret that tennis’ Grand Slams paid the players an astonishingly low percentage of revenue, at least compared with most other sports. And a succession of ATP and WTA leaders did almost nothing to change the situation, until Drewett took over the ATP in 2012. He already has won huge concessions from the Australian Open. Look for a pitched battle with the other three Slams in 2013.